Nats hire Clark, promote Kline

Facing an offseason full of personnel moves, Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo has crossed the first two moves off his list, hiring Atlanta Braves scouting director Roy Clark as assistant general manager and naming national crosschecker Kris Kline the team’s scouting director, according to a source with knowledge of the moves.

Clark, who had been the Braves’ scouting director the last 11 years, worked with Nationals team president Stan Kasten in Atlanta and was responsible for finding talents like catcher Brian McCann and pitcher Tommy Hanson. He turned down an assistant GM post with the Nationals in 2006, but would likely have more responsibility now than he would have in a similar role then.

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Kline, meanwhile, replaces Dana Brown, who took a job as a special assistant to new Toronto Blue Jays GM Alex Anthropoulos. Kline worked with Rizzo while both were with the Arizona Diamondbacks, followed him to Washington and was thought to be the front-runner to replace Brown when news of his departure broke on Monday.